Pagan Festival Shout Out: Fall Equinox/Mabon

Happy Autumn Equinox or for all the Wiccans of the Northern Hemisphere- Blessed Mabon! The holiday of the autumnal equinox, Mabon, is a Pagan ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and the God during the coming winter months. Among the sabbats, it is the second of the three Pagan harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas / Lughnasadh and followed by Samhain. Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World. 

You can read more about Mabon here, and see my past posts on the holiday here and here. But now I want to talk about this year. I stretched out my Mabon festivities to include the 20-23. I started on the 20th with decorating my altar, then cooking my go-to country meal of farm-harvested goods (Beans, cornbread, potatoes & onions, collard greens, sour kraut w/sausage). 






This year I also let this be the start to my Samhain/Halloween decorating. I pulled out my totes of Halloween decorations after eating my meal, lighting my altar, and doing my blessing/meditation ritual. After I finished decorating for the day I set out to light my small bonfire to kick off the Mabon celebration. I placed a hand written prayer request and devotional to the gods along with incense, dried flowers, which sat on a bed of juniper and cedar greenery. I reflected on my offerings and desires as the fire burned and the small orange embers danced in the night sky. I had a few dark lagers and a modest joint to really get into the spirit.




After the first night I felt the bliss of Mabon wash over me and after a few horror films and some television I went to bed. The remaining days leading up to the official Autumnal equinox I spent continuing my Halloween decorating. With only a few things left to do to complete my tasks, ( a few lights on the bushes, some spider webbing, and a couple more lawn pieces) we now have the first official day of Fall upon us. Tonight I will light my bigger bonfire. I have already done my morning altar lighting and offerings. I recited my daily prayers to the gods with an extra Mabon devotional added. I did some meditation. 

Each year my exploration into my Pagan spirituality leads me down the same cleansing and rewarding path, sometimes the journey differs a bit as I had or alter traditional tasks for each of the holidays and gods festival days. Often I pull in traditions from ancient cultural beliefs from around the world, both ancient and modern. I have found a wonderful anchor in my traditions and developed a stronger spiritual foundation that is both freeing and grounding. Blessed Mabon celebrations to everyone.